This Might Be A Podcast

Chase Roper makes his first appearance on the show to tackle the deep cut "Stormy Pinkness" from the Istanbul (Not Constantinople) EP. We dig into the demo (possibly demos plural?), hear live versions from 1987 an 1989, and ponder why TMBG doesn't realize how much of a fan favorite this is. What the heck does the phrase "stormy pinkness" mean? Did they invent the term Johnny Cup?" We also present...

Natalie Rosen is on the show to talk about a great The Escape Team track, "Jackie the Clipper." It's been awhile since the last episode about this album, so it was great to dig into the songs and the comic, and we also get special insight into Jackie emailed directly from her comic and video creator David Cowles. Natalie makes her pitch for a connection between the stories in The Escape Team and I...

It's our first episode about a song from TMBG's new album The World is to Dig! It's the debut episode from Eric Roberts - a musician featured often in episode covers sections - and we're talking about "Get Down." We analyze this funky track, all the way down to the etymology and history of usage of the phrase "get down" and its double meaning. Then we hear some live versions of this fresh song and...

Helene Horowitz makes her debut on the show to talk about an early deep cut, TMBG's cover of "Concrete and Clay." We talk about the one-hit wonders Unit 4+2, ponder on how They came to record this cover, and why it fell into obscurity (and later on a rare record). Also - hire Helene to DJ your wedding! 

WOAH. It's episode THREE HUNDRED! I'm about 1/3 of the way through the TMBG catalog! Friend of the pod since nearly day one and many-time guest Avren Keating returns to the show for this momentous occasion as we talk about TMBG's first single, "Put Your Hand Inside the Puppet Head". We reminisce about podcasts past, hear about my recent live tmbg experience, dig into Dig a bit, and delve into the...

Joel Shaughnessy returns to the show to talk about a very fresh TMBG track, "Eyeball", off of this January's EP of the same name. We briefly discuss the whole EP and speculate on the upcoming album, and then break down this wheelhouse Linnell track. We also get covers from the reliable Covers Crüe, including one from Joel himself!

Will Hoffknecht joins us for the first time to talk about "We've Got a World That Swings", a cover TMBG included on the S-E-X-X-Y EP. We discuss the original and famous crooners, try to make sense of the song's small but important lyrical variations, and revisit a kickass cover. 

Zach Heagy makes his debut on the show to discuss the The Spine Surfs Alone EP track, "Skullivan". We ponder about who the Skullivan really is, chat about Linnell going wild in the studio, and hear a cover from  Zach and his girlfriend.

Chris Tull returns to the show to talk about the deepest of deep cuts, "Our Cannibal Friends", a song which got played live three times in 2007 but never recorded. We talk about musical robots, cannibal art, and I join Chris' band My Altamont for a cover.  My Altamont on Bandcamp

Gerwin Kramer makes his TMBP debut to talk about "Now I Know", collected on the Album Raises New and Troubling Questions compilation. We learn about the hardships of being a European TMBG fan, discuss Linnell's narcissistic narrator, and hear a cover by Gerwin!  Gerwin's YouTube: Moo Oink

Luke Hennisch makes his first appearance on the show to talk about the title track to Nanobots. We chat about nanobot technology, the song's perfect melodic structure, and we both contribute covers.

After a nice break from the show for us to get married and honeymoon, Darcy makes her debut on the show to discuss the amazing wedding gift given to us by members of the Covers Crüe, a custom TMBG covers album called This Might Be a Wedding! We talk about each amazing, thoughtful track and play them in full. We also chat about seeing TMBG in Nashville last month.  You can download the album for yo...

Shannon Cooke and I finish our conversation on the Factory Showroom track "How Can I Sing Like a Girl." We check out live versions from throughout the decades, hear a handful of awesome covers, and score this TMBG classic. 

Shannon Cooke returns to the show to talk about the Factory Showroom cut "How Can I Sing Like a Girl?" On part 1, I get an oracle card reading from Shannon's custom TMBG-themed deck, we talk about demo and get techie with studio gear used on Factory Showroom, and give a tribute to our friend Mari Morton. 

Hooray for meeting podcast friends! Noah Daniel visited all the way from friggin' Germany to record this episode live in-studio at Velour Underground. We talk about the Here Come the 123s story-song "Nine Bowls of Soup" and debut our cover, featuring the guest "woahs" of my girls Zinnia and Ramona. 

Andee Fischer and I have even more to say about "Quit the Circus," time signatures and the band's amazing horn section. Then we hear some covers from the Crüe, and give the ever-important scores to the song. 

Andee Fischer makes her debut appearance on the show to talk about the Book deep cut "Quit the Circus." In part one, she tells us about her dancing and circus-adjacent skills, we dream up our ideal TMBG setlists, and we discuss the toxic family dynamics in this great track.

Here John Walker and I continue our discussion on this classic b-side. We check out one of the few live versions, and enjoy a bunch of cover versions and debut our very own collaborative cover! 

John Walker returns after many a year to talk about the classic TMBG b-side "When It Rains It Snows." With John being a fellow podcaster ( FYIz ), we get pretty chatty about music nerd stuff, so join us on this musical adventure as we dissect "When It Rains It Snows" and talk time signatures and lyrics, and next week in part 2 you'll get the remainder of the discussion, live versions, covers and s...

Jonathan Leonard returns to the show for a record-setting 6th time to talk about the Phone Power banger "Shape Shifter". We discuss robot vocals and Autotune, all sort of ways to read this song including hearing some interpretations from some other TMBP friends, and rock three covers from the Crüe, including one from me! 

Jacikat returns to the show for the umpteenth time to chat about "Sleepwalkers" off of No!, which began its life as an "adult" song called "What Is Everyone Staring At," which never made it past Dial-a-Song before it transformed. We discuss both versions, check out the live versions and gather covers of both songs, including Jacikat covering BOTH!  *We dedicate this episode to Mari Morton, our fri...

Guests Kelilah Miller and Rose Anderson team up to take on this lovely Phone Power track. The pair tell us about becoming transatlantic friends through TMBG fandom, and then we all dissect the song and hear them do their own cover version. ***Hear this episode ad-free here! ***

Creative writing teacher and contributor to The Onion, The New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere, Jean-Luc Bouchard returns to the show to talk about the Book deep cut "Wait Actually Yeah No". We attempt to make sense of the lyrics, hear some explanations straight from a Linnell podcast appearance on Full Album Fridays, and make a pitch  for this and more Book songs to be played live. Visit Jean-...

Ian Reynard returns to the show to talk about the Apollo 18 classic "Narrow Your Eyes." We dive into a bunch of live versions that span over 30 years, hear a bunch of custom covers, and try to decide just how "baroque" TMBG are.

Returning to talk about the TMBG cover of The Rose Garden's sole hit, Dawn Eden Goldstein shares her thoughts on it plus a few more fun and informative stories.  Find Dawn's song "Alone With You" performed by Juniper here! Here a version of it performed by The Anderson Council here! Read her 2018 interview with TMBG for Angelus here!